In November global chip sales rose for the first time in more than a year. Global semiconductor revenue added up to $48 billion in November, a 5.3% increase from a year earlier, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sales rose a more moderate 2.9% from October. But the good news didn’t extend to all chip segments.
The chip boom is over–or at least coming to an end. Gartner has cut its outlook for revenue growth in 2022 to just 7.4%. That’s down from a forecast of 14% growth for chip revenue three months ago. Garner sees chip revenue falling 2.5% in 2023. And you don’t have to take the word of market watchers at Gartner.
First, it was Nvidia (NVDA) cutting its guidance for revenue and earnings due on August 24. Today, August 9, it was Micron Technology (MU) warning that its revenue for the fourth-quarter revenue may come in at or below the bottom end of a forecast range provided in the company’s earnings call on June 30. Micron is scheduled to report on September 27. All this comes as the market is on edge anyway ahead of tomorrow’s report on CPI inflation. As of the close on Tuesday, August 9, shares of Micro Technology were down 3.74%. Shares of Nvidia were down another 3.97% after closing down 6.30% yesterday.
Right now investors and traders are getting a crash course in how vulnerable global supply chains are to disruption–especially when they become really extended. And how a supply chain disruption can ripple out in unexpected directions thanks to the complexity of many key products.
First, the Pandemic took a hammer to the complicated logistical systems required to get Commodity A to Sub-assembler B in order to make Consumer good C that would show up for sale around the world. Just in time inventory, it turned out, didn’t work very well when nothing arrived on time. Second, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has–or at least it should have–reminded us that global supply chains can resemble Whack-A-Mole.
In the first section of this Special Report: When will the selling stop? When to buy What to buy” posted back on January 11, I said that I’d look to buy in tiers. And thus stagger my buying to take account of any earnings season selling and any volatility around the Fed’s January 26 meeting. In the first tier, I said, back on January 11, I said I’d look for former momentum and earnings growth favorites, especially in the technology sector, that had taken big hits in the selling from the November 19 high. The three first tier buys were Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and and the first three buys back on January 11 were Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, and Adobe (ADBE). I said I’d name my second tier picks after bank earnings. Which means today.
On Thursday, July 15, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), the world’s leading chip foundry, reported earnings of 93 cents a share for the second quarter, up 18% year over year. That was inline with analyst estimates. Sales rose 28%. The company raised its revenue guidance for the third quarter to a range of $14.6 billion to $14.9 billion. The midpoint of that range, $14.75 billion, was above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. Sales in the third quarter of 2020 are $12.4 billion.Taiwan Semiconductor said that it now expects sales to grow more than 20% this year, an increase from the 20% target announced earlier in the year. For 2020-2025, the company raised its revenue forecast to a compound annual growth rate of 15% from a previous target of 10% to 15%. But the stock dropped 5.5% on July 15 and fell another 1.52% on Friday, July 16. Why?
2021 will be a very different year from 2020. Or to be more exact the second half of 2021 and 2022 will be very different. We’re looking at going from a financial market where investors and traders believed the Federal Reserve was on their side with cash and more cash to push the prices of financial assets higher and then higher some more to a market where everyone is asking when will the Fed take th punch bowl away and shut down the party.Let me be clear. At this point it’s not the certainty that the Fed will reduce its $120 billion in monthly bond buying in this exact month or that, or the certainty that the Fed will start raising interest rates before the end of 2022, say, but rather the worry that those events are on the calendar, that they will change the trend in the market, and that no one can predict when the turn will materialize.FDR said “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” To which the market right now says “Exactly.” Look at this “fear and worry calendar” that I’ve put together. And today I’ve got 3 picks and one hedge for this market
Last week’s sell off and rally, which left the Standard & Poor’s 500 down 1.4% for the week, resulted in farther dips in many of the Dip-O-Meter stocks. The picture that emerges is much more complicated than simple advice to “Buy on this dip.”
I’m starting up my videos on JubakAM.com again–this time using YouTube as a platform. The twenty-third YouTube video “Five Stocks for an Inflation Scare” went up today.
You can judge the stock market’s mood pretty accurately today, Tuesday, March 30, from just a few price movements. Take a look at the performance of bank stocks, the small cap Russell 2000, the CBOE VIX “fear index,” and technology stocks to see where we’re likely to be headed for the rest of this week.
In my Trick or Trend post on Saturday, March 27, I argued that the increasingly serious chip shortage experienced by car makers was bad for car stocks (since car companies are having to cut production), but good for chip makers who concentrate in the auto sector (since they are seeing rising demand and increasing pricing power) and even better for chip equipment makers (since they were already on a roll to meet higher demand for equipment to expand chip production and are now very likely to see that extra demand for chip equipment run higher and longer.)I already own shares of two chip makers that are seeing rising demand and increasing pricing power: NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and Infineon Technologies (IFNNY). I own NXP in my Volatility Portfolio–up 97.16% since June 2, 2020. I own Infineon in my Jubak Picks Portfolio–up 81.38% since May 6, 2019. And I also own shares of chip equipment maker Applied Materials in my Jubak Picks and 50 Stocks portfolios. Applied Materials has been a member of my Jubak Picks Portfolio since January 14, 2021 (for a gain of 21.59% as of the close on March 26) and of my long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio since December 31, 2017 (for a gain of 151.64%.) Today, Monday March 29, I’m adding shares of ASML (ASML), the leading producer of lithography equipment to draw circuits onto chips. That stock gained 7.14% on Friday and is now up 28.28% for 2021 to date.
Today I’m adding a second 10 stocks–to the 10 already listed–to the Dip-O-Meter. I’m tracking all 20 looking for buy on the dip opportunities. My take after today’s (March 23) action is not quite yet
